The title of Duke of Polignac ( French: ''Duc de Polignac'') is a French dukedom that is held by the

Polignac family The House of Polignac is the name of an ancient and powerful French noble family that took its name from the '' château de Polignac'', of which they had been ''sieurs'' since Carolingian times. Agnatically, ruling family of Monaco represents ...

History

The title was originally created for

Jules de Polignac Jules Auguste Armand Marie de Polignac, Count of Polignac (; 14 May 178030 March 1847), then Prince of Polignac, and briefly 3rd Duke of Polignac in 1847, was a French statesman and ultra-royalist politician after the Revolution. He served as pr ...

in 1780 by

brevet Brevet may refer to: Military * Brevet (military), higher rank that rewards merit or gallantry, but without higher pay * Brevet d'état-major, a military distinction in France and Belgium awarded to officers passing military staff college * Aircre ...

, which meant it was not hereditary. It was made heritable in 1783 according to masculine

primogeniture Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...

. In 1817, the holder was made a

peer of France The Peerage of France (french: Pairie de France) was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 in the Middle Ages. The prestigious title and position of Peer of France (french: Pair de France, links=no) was ...

, granting him the right to sit in the Chamber of Peers of the Bourbon Restoration. The third duke,

Jules Jules is the French form of the Latin "Julius" (e.g. Jules César, the French name for Julius Caesar). It is the given name of: People with the name *Jules Aarons (1921–2008), American space physicist and photographer *Jules Abadie (1876–195 ...

, a younger son of the first duke, was created (before his succession to the dukedom) a prince of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

in 1820, authorised to bear the title in France in 1822, and granted the same title in the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...

in 1838, which extended it to his male-line descendants. Thus, the descendants of the third duke bear the title of Prince (Fürst) or Princess (Fürstin) de Polignac, while members of the family descended only from the first duke use the title of ''

Comte ''Comte'' is the French, Catalan and Occitan form of the word 'count' (Latin: ''comes''); ''comté'' is the Gallo-Romance form of the word 'county' (Latin: ''comitatus''). Comte or Comté may refer to: * A count in French, from Latin ''comes'' * A ...

'' or ''Mademoiselle'' de Polignac. The wife of the first duke was the famous

Yolande de Polastron Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac (8 September 17499 December 1793) was the favourite of Marie Antoinette, whom she first met when she was presented at the Palace of Versailles in 1775, the year after Marie Antoinette be ...

, a favourite of Queen

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

. The mathematician Prince

Alphonse de Polignac Alphonse de Polignac (1826–1863) was a French mathematician. In 1849, the year he was admitted to Polytechnique, he made what's known as Polignac's conjecture: From p. 400: ''"1er ''Théorème.'' Tout nombre pair est égal à la diffé ...

, soldier Prince

Camille de Polignac Prince Camille Armand Jules Marie de Polignac (February 16, 1832 – November 15, 1913) was a French nobleman who served with the Confederates in the American Civil War, living on to become the last surviving Confederate major-general. Afte ...

and composer Prince

Edmond de Polignac Prince Edmond Melchior Jean Marie de Polignac (19 April 18348 August 1901) was a French aristocrat and composer. Ancestry Edmond was a member of the Polignac family, one of the more illustrious families of France. His grandmother, the duchesse ...

were younger sons of the third duke. Princess Edmond de Polignac, wife of the last named, was the American heiress

Winnaretta Singer Winnaretta Singer, Princesse Edmond de Polignac (8 January 186526 November 1943) was an American-born heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune. She used this to fund a wide range of causes, notably a musical salon where her protégés includ ...

. Comte Pierre de Polignac, a great-great-grandson of the first duke, married

Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois (Charlotte Louise Juliette Grimaldi; 30 September 1898 – 16 November 1977), was the daughter of Louis II, Prince of Monaco, and the mother of Prince Rainier III. From 1922 until 1944, she was the Her ...

and was the father of

Rainier III, Prince of Monaco Rainier III (Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi; 31 May 1923 – 6 April 2005) was Prince of Monaco from 1949 to his death in 2005. Rainier ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years, making him one of the longest-ruling m ...

Ducs de Polignac

# Armand-Jules-François, duc de Polignac (31 December 1745 – 21 September 1817). # Armand-Jules-Marie-Héracle, duc de Polignac (17 January 1771 – 1 March 1847). # Auguste-Jules-Armand-Marie, prince de Polignac (14 May 1780 – 30 March 1847). # Jules-Armand-Jean-Melchior, prince de Polignac (12 August 1817 – 17 March 1890). # Armand-Héracle-Marie, prince de Polignac (14 June 1843 – 20 November 1917). # Armand-Henri-Jules-Marie, prince de Polignac (2 February 1872 – 4 December 1961). # Jean-Héracle-Armand-François-Emmanuel-Marie-Joseph, prince de Polignac (14 October 1914 – 11 November 1999). # Charles-Armand-Emmanuel-Marie-Joseph-Jules, prince de Polignac (b. 7 October 1946). ::*Prince Alain-Aimery-Marie-Edmond de Polignac (b. 30 July 1940) is the heir-presumptive.

Notes

References

*{{cite web , title=Armory of the pre-1789 French Peerage , website=Heraldica , date=9 March 2013 , url=http://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/peerage2.htm , language=fr , accessdate=28 November 2016 Dukes of Polignac Polignac family